Will Elliot Stabler addicts ever see their hot-headed detective return to undercover life? Yes. Will it happen soon? That sounds increasingly unlikely.
Law & Order‘s customary Thursday night extravaganza hit a slight snag this fall when the flagship series and SVU returned, and Law & Order: Organized Crime was not among the crop of shows churning out new episodes.
The darker-than-usual Law & Order spin off had suffered from delayed renewal news before NBC announced that the show would move to Peacock. At the time, that update was promising, given the show’s more serialized format (wherein crimes are not handily solved within an hour) that could lend itself well to bingewatching. And although the show has been missing hot octopus drama of late, Christopher Meloni revealed that he was penning an episode for Mariska Hargitay to crossover as Olivia Benson.
Then the updates stopped for a few months, but Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva has acquired the latest scoop. Production had been humming along but was left dangling due to showrunner John Shiban leaving his position in late November. To make matters sound worse, Shiban was the series’ fifth showrunner, and production went on “pause” for weeks. The series reportedly resumed filming with original showrunner Matt Olmstead coming back as an executive producer, not as showrunner:
“No new showrunner of Organized Crime has been named. Olmstead has been drafted back to help with the remaining scripts. Most Season 5 scripts have been written, with production on the 10-episode installment about halfway through, I hear.”
Previously, NBCUniversal hadn’t revealed a return date for the fifth season, and that hasn’t changed. Yet.
Organized Crime last aired an episode in May, and it looks like the series won’t achieve a one-year return, but perhaps Olmstead will rally hard, and Stabler could surprise us. Also, Mariska Hargitay has been vocal about Meloni still being welcome on SVU, and that invitation could come in handy if Organized Crime‘s current troubles jeopardize its status in the long run.
If all else fails, the entire Law & Order universe is streaming on Peacock.
